Demo at the Greek embassy

Many groups, organisations and networks are coming together in Athens and call for an International day of action against Golden Dawn and the fascists in Greece.

"We call for international solidarity with participation in Athens demonstration on 19th of January and antifascist action around the world outside Greek embassies."

In Dublin, anti-fascists are meeting at the entrance of Stephan's Green park (top of Grafton St) at 2pm. From there we will be marching to the Greek embassy; 1 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin 2

In Dublin, anti-fascists are meeting at the entrance of Stephan's Green park (top of Grafton St) at 2pm. From there we will be marching to the Greek embassy; 1 Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin 2

Part of the translated call out is below:

"We cannot tolerate the rich and the government that sows poverty and deprivation, leads to suicides, sends homeless to queue at soup kitchens putting the blame for the crisis on immigrants, turning them to scapegoats, just like Hitler blamed the Jews for everything.

We can not close our eyes to the thousands of dead immigrants and refugees, women and children, being hunted by the guards of FRONTEX. We demand to stop the disgrace of the nazi-type concentration camps and the sweeping operations by the Greek police. The immigrants need legalization and the refugees need asylum, victims as they are of the imperialist wars, the dictatorships and the annihilating measures of austerity by the IMF.

This is why the last months an unprecedented antifascist uprising has unfolded. On the 24th of August thousands of immigrants sent their message to Dendias that they are not afraid of the police sweeping operations called “Xenios Zeus”. In the neighborhoods the racist pogroms were challenged everywhere. On the 28th of October, the teachers, the students and the antifascists showed who controls the streets sending the neo-Nazi of Golden dawn back to the sewers. “Neither in the parliament not anywhere, Nazis out of our neighborhoods” shouted thousands around Greece."

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GREECE'S UNCERTAIN FUTURE - A short video looking at popular social and alternative movements response the economic crisis and Golden Dawn http://vimeo.com/52660764

HOW MUCH FURTHER? - Documentary describing the real victims of the economic crisis, focusing on the stories of the most vulnerable in Greece, the immigrants http://vimeo.com/46319686

CHASSEURS DE SKINS (2008) - A French documentary on how groups of youth in Paris generated a backlash against the NeoNazi skinhead subculture, and by doing so earned themselves the nickname Chasseurs de Skins or 'Skinhead Hunters' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dn2NRvrR-U

Solidarity Books are calling on all groups, organisations and individuals to join us in Cork this Saturday to show we stand with all those challenging the rising tide of racism and fascism in Greece and elsewhere with a demo and stall at Daunt Sq., Patrick St. at 3pm.
Everyone is welcome back to Solidarity Books afterwards for food, a chat and short film screenings - more details on this to follow...

The Greek police even beat up tourists if they have the wrong coloured skin. Full text at link.

Greek police have stepped up efforts to catch illegal immigrants in recent months, launching a new operation to check the papers of people who look foreign. But tourists have also been picked up in the sweeps - and at least two have been badly beaten.

When Korean backpacker Hyun Young Jung was stopped by a tall scruffy looking man speaking Greek on the street in central Athens he thought it might be some kind of scam, so he dismissed the man politely and continued on his way. A few moments later he was stopped again, this time by a man in uniform who asked for his documents. But as a hardened traveller he was cautious. Greece was the 16th stop in his two-year-long round-the-world trip and he'd often been warned about people dressing in fake uniforms to extract money from backpackers, so while he handed over his passport he also asked the man to show him his police ID. Instead, Jung says, he received a punch in the face.

Within seconds, the uniformed man and his plainclothes partner - the man who had first approached Jung - had him down on the ground and were kicking him, according to the Korean. In shock, Jung was by now convinced he was being mugged by criminals and began shouting for help from passers-by. "I was very scared," he says. It was only when he was handcuffed and dragged 500m (500 yards) up the road to the nearest police station that he realised he was actually under arrest.

Jung says that outside the station the uniformed officer, without any kind of warning, turned on him again, hitting him in the face. "There were members of the public who saw what happened, like the man who works in the shop opposite the police station, but they were too afraid to help me," he says. Inside the police station, Jung says he was attacked a third time in the stairwell where there were no people or cameras. ...

In July last year, 38-year-old Christian Ukwuorji, a US citizen born in Nigeria, visited Greece with his wife and three children. They visited Rhodes and Santorini, and stopped in Athens on the way back. It was while he was walking in central Athens with a friend that Ukwuorji was stopped and asked for his ID by the Greek police. Despite showing them his US passport, he was detained with a group of immigrants and taken to the police station. While there Ukwuorji says he tried to take a photograph of his handcuffs on his mobile phone but when officers saw what he was doing they jumped on him, beating him until he passed out. He woke up in hospital with concussion.

The police returned his passport and his damaged mobile phone. He was not charged with any offence. The US Embassy has requested an investigation, but six months on there has been no word from the police. Ukwuorji believes he was the victim of racism and says he will never visit Greece again. ...